Tragic Fate of Wenceslaus III, Duke of Rybnik († 1478). An Episode of the Rivalry between the Jagiellons and Matthias I Corvinus for the Bohemian Crown

Abstract

Wenceslaus III, Duke of Rybnik (in Polish: Wacław III), was an indirect descendant of the Přemyslids who in the fourteenth– fifteenth centuries ruled in the Duchy of Opava and Racibórz (Ratibor). The duchy, however, from the end of the fourteenth century entered a period of internal divisions. After the death of his father Nicholas  V († 1452) Duke Wenceslaus III and his brother John IV divided the inheritance, with John IV taking Krnov and Wodzisław, and Wenceslaus III — Rybnik, Pszczyna and Żory with neighboring districts. Wenceslaus III reign witnessed the rivalry between the Jagiellons and Matthias I Corvinus of Hungary for the Bohemian Crown. But the duke of Rybnik pursued a very hesitant policy, siding, in turn, with one party or another. At the same time he failed to secure good relations with his neighbors, Silesian dukes, and was constantly fighting against them. All this led to the interference by Matthias I who annexed a part of his duchy (and gave it to Henry the Younger of Poděbrady) and imprisoned the duke himself. Wenceslaus died imprisoned in 1478, without getting the help of the Polish king with whom he maintained friendly relations.